


Oceans

by J_33



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: F/F, Season 5 AU, mentions of torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-16 18:51:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4636353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/J_33/pseuds/J_33
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Shaw returns, Root feels like there’s oceans between them, and they’re both sinking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oceans

**Author's Note:**

> Got this idea from the song Oceans by Seafret. ENJOY - also my take on what may happen when Shaw returns because there's no way in hell that she gonna be fine.

When Shaw returns, Root feels like there’s oceans between them, and they’re both sinking.

 

Harold keeps himself occupied with Samaritan, a threat that continues to grow while the Machine is trapped in a suitcase. John goes back to pretending nothing happened, that Shaw wasn’t gone for over a year, and Samaritan isn’t on the verge of winning this war, because he, like Shaw, were never ones for expressing themselves. Lionel is, well just Lionel, trying is best to treat Shaw the same, even though so much has changed. He continues to tease her, telling her that it’s unfortunate she can’t work at the Makeup store because torture did no good deeds on her image. Shaw of course, grins, telling him to shut up, but she hears the truth in his words. There are bags under her eyes, and scars on her body that cannot be covered up with all the foundation and eyeliner in the world.

 

And that leaves Root, unsure on how to talk to Shaw, unsure of how to help her heal. She just can’t seem to get the image of her locked up in that prison, barely conscience. And while, the rest of them can pretend that everything is okay, or that it will be okay in time, Root just doesn’t have the pleasure, because she’s not sure if things truly will be.

 

Anytime she tries to confront her, Shaw changes the subject, or says the painkillers are making her tired, and it frustrates Root to no end, that they got Sameen back, but she isn’t really with them.

 

Most days she seems to be lost in her own world. Shaw still has some of her old traits like playing with Bear, until Harold tells her to stop rallying him up, and her appetite surely has not decreased, if anything it’s increased since her time spent in captivity, but it is the little things that Root misses. Like their playful banter, or the fire in Shaw’s eyes during a mission.

 

Harold had told her one night that Sameen may never be the same, that torture changes people, and they can only imagine what happened to her during her time spent with Samaritan. There was the long list of physical and mental torture techniques that can leave a lasting imprint for the rest of someone’s life. And as strong as Shaw is, there’s only so much a person can take.

 

Root wondered, if Shaw had been pushed to her breaking point, if she, if she, sociopath and all, had endured so much pain that it changed her, so much that she couldn’t even talk to Root for more than five minutes.

 

Weeks went by and Shaw was edging to get out of the Subway, and kick some Samaritan ass. Harold and Root were hesitant, but they did need her, if they wanted to start making any sort of damage in this war.

 

The Machine had given them the location of a facility where Samaritan appeared to be keeping some of their prized generators. Harold worked on the security cameras, while Fusco guarded the entrance, and John, Shaw, and Root, entered the building, hoping to collect information on the generators, and later find a way to shut them down, crippling Samaritan in the process.

 

Everything was going as planned. Shaw and Reese were taking out the guards, while Root was working on the generators. She had just inserted the hard drive when Harold informed her that Shaw was down.

 

Root ran into the room where Shaw last entered, and there she saw her, on her knees with her hands over both her eyes, her whole body vibrating like she was being electrocuted. There was a man sitting at a desk covered in computers, and he had a button in his hand, and a wicked smile on his face.

 

“What did you do to her?” Root ordered, putting her guns at his chest.

 

“I showed her what it feels like to disobey orders,” he said, and then John came out of nowhere and shot him in the knee.

 

He fell to the ground, the button falling out of his hand in the process. Root picked it up, and quickly pushed it down, stopping whatever was happening to Shaw. She was no longer seizing, instead, curled up in a ball, mumbling something that Root discovered was, “Order, Correction, Authority,” over and over again.

 

“I suggest you get out of there now, Miss Groves. The reinforcements are coming,” Finch said in her ear piece.

 

John and Root took either side of her, and helped her shaky legs, leave the building. Fusco and Finch were waiting for them in the van, when they exited.

 

“What the hell just happened,” Fusco asked, referring to Shaw in the backseat, staring off into nothing, scratching at her left ear.

 

“I wish I knew. One of Samaritans agents pushed a button that started giving her seizures or something,” Root said, not taking her eyes off of Shaw.

 

“The transponders,” Harold stated.

 

“What about them?” John asked.

 

“Back in Maple there was the factory making them, but when Sameen wasn’t there we disregarded the possibility that they were used on her. What if we were wrong? What if they put one in her brain, so when that man pushed the button it transmitted some sort of electricity throughout her body, rendering her useless?” Harold said.

 

“Are you saying that they still control her, Harold?” Root asked.

 

“I’m saying that it’s best if Miss Shaw stay behind from now on before we sort all this out.”

 

Root looked back over to Shaw. She was still itching her ear, trembling slightly, unaware to any of their presence, and she couldn’t help but feel like the state she was in was all her fault.

 

***

 

“Dammit,” Shaw muttered.

 

She was practicing her shot on one of the targets Reese “borrowed” from the Police Station. All of her bullets were off target, and Root connected it to the fact that her hand had a slight, yet noticeable tremor in it.

 

“I used to be able to do this is my sleep,” Shaw said out loud to herself, even though Root was watching her.

 

“You’ve been through a lot Sameen. I’m sure once we figure out how to get the transponder out of your head everything will go back to normal,” Root said, more trying to convince herself, as Shaw fired off three more bullets, before angrily swearing under her breath.

 

“Transponders aren’t meant to come out Root, and you know that,” Shaw said, her voice devoid of any emotion, more so than usual.

 

“Well, then we will just adapt, like we always do,” Root responded, trying to sound positive.

 

“Survival of the fittest, isn’t that what happens. Those that can adjust move on, and evolve, and those that can’t…” Shaw started.

 

“Everything’s going to be okay,” Root tried, but all she got was an angry look for Shaw.

 

“How can you say that? This job is all I had, protecting people is all I know how to do. I failed at being a doctor, I can’t go back to the government, and now the one thing I was good at, is gone,” Shaw said.

 

“Sameen--.”

 

“I walked into that room, and then all I felt was pain, a burning pain in my head, a ringing noise in my ears, and you think that that’s okay? You may have rescued me from Samaritan, but I am not free. Now I am just a sitting duck, hoping that no one pushes a button, because who knows what could happen the next time my brain gets fried?” Shaw said, re-aiming the gun back at the target, and firing five more times, with the same result.

 

She then took a seat on the nearby bench. “And now I can’t even shoot a gun, the one thing I dreamed of doing since I left that place,” she said, more softly this time, almost defeated.

 

Root paused, before taking a seat next to her. “When we lost you, I thought we couldn’t lose anyone else. You kissed me, and then I watched you sacrifice everything. Up until that point I thought that the Machine had a purpose for everything, but after that I wasn’t so sure. She told me to stop looking for you, so I did. I continued fighting this war, and now you’re back, alive, and here, but nothing is okay.”

 

“I don’t blame you, Root. Like I said, protecting people is what I do, what I did,” Shaw said.

 

“When you were gone I almost turned my back on the Machine,” Root said.

 

“I feel so honored,” Shaw said with a small grin. “But Harold is right. This war must be won, even if I can’t fight.”

 

“I’m glad you said that,” Root said.

 

There was still oceans between them, but together, the would learn how to swim back to shore.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, and any feedback would be great!


End file.
